F6F Hellcat
Many talk about Spitfires, P51D, F4U and various Gerry types, but the king of WW2 was the F6F Hellcat. In just over two years’ service 1943 to 1945 it claimed over 5,000 EA for the loss of less than 300 of its own, a combat ratio of 19 to 1 which is not bad. The aircraft is often over looked by many of today’s history programmes, but it was built like a brick sh*t house, had an enormous range, armed to the teeth, and was docile to fly according to many reports. Its top end performance was 385 mph but it could use a lot of its power in the climb and could dog fight the Zero. It was the FA18 of its day, not the best combat aircraft in the world, but did its missions and proved it as an all-round combat aircraft.
Last edited by SCAFITE; 24th Feb 2013 at 13:04.